Chapter 227: Continuous Mercury Retrograde

Chapter 227: Continuous Mercury Retrograde

Chapter 227: Continuous Mercury Retrograde

"Regarding publishing," Ning Chunyan said, "I know someone who may be able to play a huge role."

Lu Qingxuan said: "Actually, I know someone too, and I was just about to introduce him to Brother Zixu."

After the two of them finished talking, they looked at each other, and the character was about to emerge.

The prince looked left and right, hesitated for two seconds, and then said cautiously, "Actually, I know someone too."

"Could it be that the person we know is the same person?" Ning Chunyan smiled.

After that, she shook her head again, denying herself: "No, you probably don't know Duan Xiaosang..."

"I know."

"Duan Xiaosang is already financially independent, living a carefree life, not struggling for money. It's hard to get in touch with him without connections... so how do you know him?!"

Ning Chunyan seemed to realize what Wang Zixu had said halfway through his speech, and pounded the table with both fists:

"Do you really know Duan Xiaosang?"

"Correct."

"Do you have her contact information?"

"……Um."

Ning Chunyan retreated tactically: "You and Xiao Mengyin suddenly became familiar with each other, and I didn't say anything about you, how come you even know Duan Xiaosang?"

Wang Zixu answered honestly, "Actually, we just know each other, but we're not familiar with each other."

Ning Chunyan narrowed his eyes: "I understand, it was Xiao Mengyin who introduced you, right?"

"almost."

Actually, it was An Younan who introduced me. But the two of them are similar in gender, so it’s not a lie.

Ning Chunyan sighed faintly:
"I thought I could send down this backup connection to save you from the dire situation, but I didn't expect that helping you would become a competition for the job. It seems that Wang Zixu has grown up and no longer needs my protection."

Wang Zixu said, "I feel that our relationship has long surpassed the low level of friendship based on interests and has risen to the stage of chivalrous and selfless. Moreover, from a historical perspective, when have you ever protected me?"

Ning Chunyan slammed the table and said, "It's natural to do it without expecting anything in return, but let's be honest. Why didn't I protect you when we were in Xihe before? I think our relationship has entered the stage where noble people tend to forget things. It really makes me sad!"

Wang Zixu said: "I have never forgotten it. I will never forget it. What I mean is that it is not called protection. We all helped each other, united and grew up together."

Ning Chunyan said: "I agree, but your growth rate is a bit scary. I don't even know your wife's name, but you even know my enemy's best friend!"

Suddenly, a loud noise was heard beside Ning Chunyan.

Chen Qingluo's goblet was knocked over for unknown reasons, and the liquid inside shot out like a stream of liquid, like a shotgun, directly hitting Wang Zixu on the opposite side.

Then, it was drunk down his pants.

Ning Chunyan exclaimed: "Qingluo, what are you doing? It's not even time to toast yet!"

"Ahem," Chen Qingluo cleared her throat calmly, "Sorry."

"..."

Wang Zixu looked down at the shirt that was stained by lemonade, then looked at Miss Luo who had an expressionless face, and was speechless for a moment.

From her face, it was impossible to tell whether she did it on purpose or by accident.

However, thanks to this accident, Wang Zixu was freed from Ning Chunyan's gravity. The people at the table hurriedly helped to get toilet paper.

After wiping the water off, Ning Chunyan suddenly discovered a blind spot and asked, "What's wrong with your mouth?"

Chen Qingluo said faintly: "It was bitten by his door."

Wang Zixu said: "I was bitten by the door. No. I was hit by the door, and then I bit myself after the collision."

Ning Chunyan looked sympathetic, "You are so unlucky. Check if Mercury is retrograde recently."

"I don't believe in horoscopes. If it was Mercury retrograde, my Mercury retrograde should have lasted for more than ten years, with intermittent improvement."

The food was served. They ate. There are many Turkish restaurants in Donghai, and they are very successful if they can survive. The Anatolian lamb chops sizzle, and the spicy cumin and the smoke of fruit wood are like a spice bomb, gushing out the tempting aroma and making people hungry.

In the warm atmosphere, Ning Chunyan delivered an important speech, saying that this was our last dinner together before the New Year.

Only then did Wang Zixu realize that the New Year was approaching.

"When does vacation start?"

Ning Chunyan said, "You don't even remember when the Spring Festival is? It's next Saturday."

After she finished speaking, she added, "Next week's task is mainly to finish organizing the manuscript, so that we can have a holiday without homework. Xiao Lu and Xiao Diao can go home early. Wang Zixu, are you going back to Xihe?"

Wang Zixu said I will go back. Although Comrade Wang Jianguo is a lonely man, he has a strong sense of ritual in the New Year. But it is OK to go home on the first day of the New Year.

Ning Chunyan said, "Then you can go home on New Year's Eve. You have a car anyway, and Xihe is close."

Then she asked Chen Qingluo: "What about you, Qingluo, are you going back to Xihe this year?"

"It depends on whether my parents are going to let me go and go home to visit relatives and friends."

Ning Chunyan knew what she meant when he heard it, and he also looked depressed and said:
"When I was a kid, I loved Chinese New Year the most. As I grew older, I disliked it less and less. Every year when I go home, people either ask about my work and income or urge me to get married. It makes me feel very stressed."

Chen Qingluo sneered: "Haha, you are only in your twenties. Urging marriage is just talk. You have never seen the real urging of marriage."

Ning Chunyan said: "I was forced to socialize with a group of people I didn't know well. I didn't know what to say. I could only smile awkwardly and sit there eating. After the Chinese New Year, I found that I had gained 10 pounds."

Chen Qingluo said: "My relatives are particularly concerned about my income. In the early years, I answered honestly, but I found that they were not happy."

Ning Chunyan said: "Some of my relatives' children are also naughty. Every time they come, they make a lot of noise, bungee jump on my bed, and I have to help take care of the children and clean the house until my waist breaks."

Chen Qingluo said: "Later, I deliberately lowered my income, so they were happy, but they started to care about me again, and insisted that I add some small bosses and small executives on WeChat, saying that it would be easier to live a stable life if I married them."

The two of them were not on the same wavelength at all, but they talked inexplicably in harmony, and even Lu Qingxuan and Diao Yiwen felt a sense of empathy.

Wang Zixu found it difficult to join in on this topic. When he was a child, the New Year was quite lively, but after his mother passed away, the New Year at home was always deserted.

Comrade Wang Jianguo took him to his elders' home to drink on New Year's Eve. After drinking, he went home and fell asleep. He didn't have to do anything on the first day of the new year but just sleep.

Wang Zixu was left alone at home. Apart from taking care of him and making sure he didn't die, he just read books. His aunt was kind enough to send him some dumplings, which he ate for meals.

After the meal, everyone said it was great. Ning Chunyan paid the bill with public funds. After paying the bill, he pulled Wang Zixu aside and whispered:
"Wang Zixu, I've seen through it recently. The poverty of intellectuals is a stereotype. If intellectuals don't have money to support them, they won't be respected by others. Look at how old Shen Qingfeng is, but he has set his sights on me just because I want to run a magazine and need money. Don't compromise too much with the publishing house just to save face. You should make some money if you can."

Wang Zixu said: "I know. You have to believe in my ability to make money. Don't forget who is behind the scenes to open our company."

Ning Chunyan chuckled and punched him: "Don't be so cocky. What's wrong with relying on you? I won't say it, but I'll remember your heroic feat of saving the damsel in distress."

Wang Zixu's car was still parked in the parking lot near the Cultural Association, so he had to walk back. After saying goodbye to everyone and going out onto the street, he realized that he was going the same way as Chen Qingluo.

On the way here, the two of us chatted happily and easily, completely forgetting what day it was. It was as if time had gone back to high school, when you were not a famous author and I was not married yet. We were simple and had no background story.

On the way back, Wang Zixu was speechless. He didn't know what to say or where to put his hands and feet. The main reason was that everyone talked too much at the dinner and was too realistic, which suddenly pulled him back to the ground from the sky of thought.

Wang Zixu is neither a wealthy small boss nor a young and famous writer. He is not even as good as the person introduced by Chen Qingluo's relatives.

She brought up the topic of urging marriage during the dinner. If it was a competition for a job, he would not be qualified to submit a resume. But a sense of inferiority still quietly emerged from irrelevant places, mixed with a bit of loss.

Chen Qingluo did not speak. When they reached the intersection where they had to separate, she spoke:
"I really didn't mean it."

"Ah? What? ...Oh, you mean about the spilled cup? It's okay."

The water stains on Wang Zixu's pants were almost dry. Chen Qingluo's apology was unnecessary, and it only made things more obvious.

But if it really wasn't intentional, he wouldn't be surprised. He has Mercury retrograde.

Chen Qingluo nodded and said, "Fortunately it's not boiling water."

"Fortunately it's not boiling water." Wang Zixu turned into a parrot again.

"You're driving home?"

"Well, you too?"

"Ah."

After saying that, there was silence for a few seconds. Wang Zixu had no topic to bring up to keep her, so he could only wave his hand gently.

"Hey." Chen Qingluo called him again from behind.

"What's wrong?" Wang Zixu turned around.

"Isn't this considered protecting you today?"

"Of course." Wang Zixu said.

Chen Qingluo waved her hand: "Bye."

After saying that, she turned around, walked down the basement entrance, and disappeared.

Wang Zixu went to find his car.

Even when he sat in the car and fastened his seat belt, his heart was still beating wildly as if it was about to jump out of his throat.

After taking a few deep breaths and calming down, Wang Zixu received two calls on his cell phone.

The first one was from Duan Xiaosang, who asked him to meet in the afternoon to discuss the publication of Fire in the Stone.

The second one was from an unfamiliar number. After I answered it, the person on the other end introduced themselves as being from a very long distance away.

"I'll be frank with you," Lu Chaoyuan said, "I didn't agree with Chen Qingluo taking you away."

After a pause, he continued, "But Chen Qingluo is a hot candidate for the next Mao Dun Literature Prize. If she and you start some rumors in the Literary Association, it will just add fuel to the fire. So I agree that you can leave. But there are a few things I need you to guarantee."

Without waiting for Wang Zixu to answer, he instructed: "First, you cannot accept any media interviews without the consent of the Cultural Association;

“Secondly, the publication and promotion of Fire in the Stone must be reviewed and approved by the Literature Association;
“Third, do not disclose any information on social media until the results of our discussion come out.”

After that, he asked, "Did I make myself clear?"

Lu Chaoyuan is very emotionally intelligent. He didn’t ask whether you understood or not, but only asked whether I made it clear.

Wang Zixu said: "You have made it clear."

After hanging up the phone, he suddenly realized that, apart from Xihe’s Secretary Shen Jianqiu, this was the second leader of this level to call him on his mobile phone.

……

"By the way, Brother Zixu is really calm." Lu Qingxuan said.

Diao Yiwen asked: "What do you mean?"

The two had just got off the bus and were on their way back to the NTU campus.

Diao Yiwen's parents used their connections to rent a room on the NTU campus, so the two lived very close to each other. They often went to get off work together and became more familiar with each other than before.

Lu Qingxuan said: "To suddenly become so popular overnight, if it were an ordinary person, it would definitely be like a dream, right?"

Diao Yiwen shrugged: "I think it's a normal reaction for ordinary people."

"No, even a bystander like me who has some connection with the matter feels a little bit overwhelmed. He really feels so stable, as if, as if..."

After thinking for a while, Lu Qingxuan came up with a description: "It seems like it's someone else's business."

Diao Yiwen clapped her hands: "You are right, he always feels detached, as if everything is just someone else's business. It was the same at work before."

Lu Qingxuan asked: "Was it the same before? For example?"

Diao Yiwen said: "In the past, he was very transparent in the workplace, the type that was not easily noticed by others, just like an outsider in the workplace."

Having said that, she suddenly remembered Wang Zixu's sudden outburst that day.

That incident had become a psychological trauma for her, and she didn't want to talk about it in detail, so she just brushed it off: "I always felt that his pursuit was different from that of ordinary people."

Lu Qingxuan said: "Yeah, I feel the same way."

“I think it’s quite strange.”

Lu Qingxuan said: "Maybe geniuses are all a little weird."

Diao Yiwen didn't say anything. In fact, she felt that the word "genius" was a bit too much, and Wang Zixu couldn't suppress it.

She and Wang were from the same unit and had seen each other through each other's lows. Suddenly, she was elevated to genius, as if a childhood friend had become her savior, and it was difficult for her to balance psychologically.

The two entered the campus, and Lu Qingxuan was still sighing:

"He hasn't opened an account yet. If he opens one during this period of popularity, his followers will definitely exceed 100,000 in a second. Shi Shuqiu's personal account has been running for so long, but he only has 100,000 followers."

Speaking of Shi Shuqiu, she increasingly felt that he was not a wonderful person.

Shi Shuqiu often talks about his account with 100,000 followers, and talks in a mysterious way about his posts and how his fans comment on them.

Compared to Wang Zixu, who has received such great popularity but remained calm, the difference between active and quiet is really obvious.

Moreover, it is hard to say whether Wang Zixu's reprimand of Shi Tonghe was not caused by the recommendation of Shi Shuqiu's work for the Fei Shi Literature Prize.

Unfortunately, most people are not aware of the father-son relationship between Shi Shuqiu and Shi Tonghe. He also remained silent on Weibo and was not affected by the popularity.

Diao Yiwen suddenly pulled Lu Qingxuan's arms twice and nodded her chin forward.

Lu Qingxuan looked forward and saw that Cao Cao was here. We were just chatting just now. Wasn’t Shi Shuqiu not far ahead?

Shi Shuqiu was acting out of character today. He didn't call his friends over like he used to. He was alone, and when he saw Lu Qingxuan, he rode his bicycle and slowly scooted over.

(End of this chapter)